The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition to hear Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) and the Major League Baseball Players Association's (MLBPA) legal appeal against CBC Distribution and Marketing Inc., which won a 2006 court case to gain legal protection from using Major League Baseball player names and statistics without a license.

CBC is the parent company of St. Louis-based CDM Fantasy Sports, which sued MLBAM in 2005 to gain legal protection from using MLB player names and statistics without a license.

MLBAM argued the commercial use of such data without a license was a breach of its rights, obtained in 2005 from the Major League Baseball Players Association. It is estimated fantasy sports generate more than $1.5 billion annually from millions of participants.

The union and MLBAM tried to have the Supreme Court hear the case after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit in November denied their petitions to rehear the case both on a panel basis and before the entire appeals court.

The November court order contained no information beyond the denial, but in its affirmation in October of CDM's 2006 district court win, the court ruled, "The facts in this case barely, if at all, implicate the interests that states typically intend to vindicate by providing rights of publicity to individuals. ... We hold that [CDM's] first amendment rights in offering its fantasy baseball products supersede the players' rights of publicity."

matthewallen@bizjournals.com

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